February 2014 Grocery Challenge

ArthriticOldThing

My February starts today - payday. Failed miserably last month but going to aim for £60 again and live on my stores for a change.

tallullahbelle

I am now up to £499.48, with a week to go. Is it a real pain if I switch to an annual budget? It will be easier as I can just update sig regularly... I remember when i tried this in 2010 I thought I'd do annual next time. So... can I please switch to £5400 for 2014 1st Jan- 31st December? Many thanks.

Suffolk_lass

JIL wrote: »

Thankyou for this, it didnt have a crust on it, but had some kind of melted cheese (which I did not think would go with salmon but was lovely) I would love your recipe though. I could try adding some cheese to the sauce.

Here you go

Parmesan crust salmon
Mix together 2 big spoons of mayonnaise, 30 g/1 oz fine-grated parmesan (or other strong, hard cheese) and a good pinch of chilli flakes or cayenne pepper.
Squeeze of lemon on each of four salmon fillets or steaks then dollop on the cheese mayo mix and spread out
Separately crush to small rubble 10 Ritz or 6 Tuc crackers and sprinkle these on top of the salmon.
Bake uncovered in a foil lined dish at 400F for 13-15 minutes.
During the cooking make a white sauce as follows:
Melt about a dessert spoon of butter in a pan, (low to med heat) add slightly less flour and whisk these together on the heat. Before the mix goes brown (after a minute or so) add a large glass (about 7-10 fl oz or a mug) of white wine you would drink and whisk until it thickens and goes smooth. Add a teaspoon of Dijon mustard and a little (preferably double) cream and stir it in and keep stirring until it bubbles. Remove from the heat and taste – it usually needs a good pinch of salt and pepper but it depends on the saltiness of the butter and mustard – to your taste.
Serve the sauce either under the fish or in a separate jug so the biscuit crust doesn’t go soggy. Nice served with mash and plain green veg like savoy cabbage or beans.
All the best
SL (Still spending very little this year)

poppycracker

So, got some shopping in today and yesterday. Couldn't get on yesterday because of work.

£32.10 in Pets at Home and
£52.35 in Tesco.

lushlifesaver

Well my mum came to visit today and paid for the few extra bits I needed from lidl and also the fabric conditioner (ended up getting a different offer) so I've only spent £4.76 which was in bodycare on:
Toothpaste for bf's camp bag £0.99
Toothpaste for home £0.99
4 toothbrushes (for the spares draw) £1.59
Gel varnish remover £1.19

I bought us lunch out of my leisure/'pocket money' budget which was a nice treat for us both but that doesn't come from my GC and I bought hospital bag stuff but that money will be paid back on bf's return out of our 'baby fund

Will update my sig now, will need smoked cheese and some crisps for this week but that's it. Why oh why does lidl/iceland/ Fulton foods not sell smoked cheese round here?:(

dogmom_3

I spoke to a friend today who works for a debt advice charity. I mentioned that I was going to shoot for £50/week for groceries this year for a two adult household. She looked shocked and told me that her charity usually allows about £100/week for two adults when helping people budget. I am going to try to keep a week by week menu and spending log so that I can show her how it pans out over the year.

mooomin

dogmom wrote: »

She looked shocked and told me that her charity usually allows about £100/week for two adults when helping people budget.

I think that seems really high, at least for our household. We're two adults and a fussy, spoiled cat and we're down to £200 for a month now. I can see how people spend more though, especially if they aren't used to cooking from scratch and whatnot. It's taken us a while to get to this point.

Annie_99

Can I be put down for £400 please.
My budget starts today and here are my spends for the day:
Boots, shampoo x 3 £3·00
B&M, £10·12
Costco £ 58·53, we ended up buying 80 toilet rolls!! Among lots of other things!
Aldi 2x weekly shop: £67·51
Chippy tea: £ 3·70
So I've spent £142·86 from my £400 budget.
I need to do a meat and supermarket shop but my cupboards are bursting so it hopefully won't be too bad...
I love this thread to keep me focussed.

meg72

dogmom wrote: »

I spoke to a friend today who works for a debt advice charity. I mentioned that I was going to shoot for £50/week for groceries this year for a two adult household. She looked shocked and told me that her charity usually allows about £100/week for two adults when helping people budget. I am going to try to keep a week by week menu and spending log so that I can show her how it pans out over the year.

Crikey, if this is the kind of advice your friend is giivng out no wonder people are in debt, £100 week for 2 adults, rubbish, tell your friend she needs to look at the grocery challenge thread to see what people consider reasonable.

superrhinos

A quick update on me and this week's spends.

Wednesday, I went to Waitrose to pick up my free two pint of milk care of Waitrose Weekend magazine and picked up some reduced bacon lardons for 59p.

Today, I went to Aldi and did my weekly shop. I have so much food that's needs using up in the freezer that I only spent £10.52.

Will probably need to buy some fruit mid week but that should be me until next weekend. This therefore takes my total for the month to £39.76 with a third of my month gone.